Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Throughout the year I did many projects in both my history and English class that went over very diverse topics. From making plays history to making monologues in english, I can say that this experience was worth the work. It gave me many opportunities that most people in regular high schools might not get because they have a regular curriculum. I learned many interesting things that will most likely give me an upper edge in the future.

I was never really a fan of english nor history. I always thought they both were boring and still today I find myself losing interest from time to time. However there were a few things that caught my attention throughout the year. For example one of topics that we went over that helped me stay focused was language evolves in a person. To me this means that over time your writing develops into a style of your own.

One of the many lessons that I did that is a good example of this general understanding was when we had to make our own poems. The process helped us all develop our own type of poems with their own “flow” or style. My best poem I did during that lesson was a rift poem about music.

We've fallen into a place where there is only music

A place where music arouses all of the 5 senses

You see the rhythm flow in and out of each beat

The notes crawl on your skin for your body is the measure

Each lyric has its own scent that guides you through the song

Each genre has its own taste

The spicy sensation of salsa

or the beefy taste of a bass in funk

and what you hear is a mere product of all the senses combined

Here everyone's heart beats on its own time signature

Here no one is the same only a part of the same thing

its said god made us in his own image

but in this place music is the only image

After I wrote this poem we had to analyze a famous poets poems. My poet was Allen Ginsberg and one of the poems I went over was “An Asphodel”. While I didn’t understand all of the poem I understood the important parts and was able to tell what the poem was about. The poem is in the link here.

There are different ways that language evolves in a person, especially when that person has an accent. I was able to show this when I wrote a language autobiography about the differences between west coast and east coast accents. I could relate to this well because I lived on the west coast for 7 years and developed a slight accent myself. The essay was mostly about how different accents have very different first impressions.

“Even if I had an accent I wouldn’t know what it would be useful for. In the video we watched about American accents the woman had to change her southern accent because where she lived it made her seem uneducated in the business world. However, on the contrary there was a man with a heavy Boston accent that helped him woo the ladies and intimidate other people that seemed to be a threat. This shows that just by talking people have already judged what type of person you are, how smart you are and what your capabilities are.”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oqkoEgeEPBDBJA-_qpjXCeXaSGNjTsoqb6V61NW6ZIg/edit?usp=sharing

However, making your own style of writing isn’t the only way to show that you’re evolving. Another way you can do this is by making a style for another person or an inanimate object. We did this when we made monologues for the Keystone pipeline. The project required us to become a person or thing that was a part of the Keystone pipeline debate. I wrote from the perspective of the tar sands talking to a worker digging the sands.

“What do i give off? Are you seriously asking me that? I mean I knew you humans were dumb, but I didn’t know you were that dumb jeez. It’s like talking to a plank of wood. Why are you working here if you don’t know what I'm going to give off, but if you haven’t heard, I am dirtier than any oil you humans have dug up. I’m guessing tar didn’t stick out to you?”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17eyz141RrG51rqkP2sjZX75V7IdL1ajxezQFSLud7nA/edit?usp=sharing